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Published: July 15th 2009
Me & Sabina
on Waikiki BeachTime for a beach day. As I was packing up for my jaunt down to Waikiki Beach, I got a phone call from Sabina, one of the Carlson crew still here vacationing. A few of them ended up post extending their time here in Hawaii for a little r'n r. Lucky for me, that meant I had people to hang out with down at the beach. So, instead of heading down to my end at Queens Beach, I met them out on the beach at the Hilton Village.
The Hilton Hawaiian Village is literally a small village to itself. In fact, you could spend your entire Hawaiian vacation at the village and never even leave the property. It's a shame really. The beach at the Hilton isn't really that nice, and the shops there are overpriced; I paid a dollar more for my coffee from Starbucks there too. Such a ripoff! I certainly wouldn't recommend staying there.
Back to my day..... well... I did nothing all day actually. We laid on the beach for the entire day soaking up the sun's hot rays. I did find a delicious salad for lunch, but other than that, I spent
Waikiki Rainbow
light rain and a beautiful rainbow the day getting a tan. Since it was a Friday, and we were sitting at the Hilton, we decided to stay for the weekly fireworks display. It was a bit of a commitment sitting there till the sun went down. It was a nice sunset to watch, but it kept raining and I found myself getting cold. I did, however, witness an awesome rainbow that grew right in front of my eyes. The fireworks display was outstanding, and I'd highly recommend catching one if you're ever in Waikiki on a Friday. They put them on every Friday at 8pm. It made up for being so far away from the fireworks on the 4th of July.
From there, I hopped a bus home to quickly shower to get ready for the evening. We had decided to go bar hopping which I was pretty excited about. An hour and a half later, I caught a bus to the Ala Moana Center to meet up with Alex and Sabina at Mai Tai's. It's a great bar, great prices, and popular with the locals. I slurped down those $5 lava flows like water. After we closed that bar down, Sabina and I went
Waikiki Beach
it's the most crowded beach I've ever been on, but it's beautiful to a club called Pearl. We had VIP passes to use, so we went in and danced for a little while. Our last stop was just across the street to a club called bar seven to meet up with some guys we met earlier. By 2:30, I was exhausted and needed to get some sleep before the next morning and my Niketown group run, so I took a cab back home. I hate taking cabs; they're so expensive!
Saturday morning, I climbed out of bed regretting my decision to drink so much sugar the night before. Thinking that I needed to complete a long run today, I ran to Niketown instead of taking the bus. It didn't feel too good at all. Forget the long run today; I opted for the 4.4 mile run instead. I figure it's about 6.5 total for the day. Good enough. Next time I won't go out the night before. I ran the first half with my friend Terry, then when she went longer, I ran the second half with this girl I recently met named HyeJeong. She just moved here from Florida for grad school, and she's training for a marathon. I made
Us at Waiola Shave Ice
me, Alex, Sabina, & Gloria plans to catch a ride from her early the next morning up to the Lanikai 8k Road Race. Hanging out afterwards, Terry introduced me to two girls she talked to on the run who she discovered were vacationing from AZ. After talking to them, we found out that they're from my neighborhood, literally! One of them lives on the other side of the street behind the fountain. Crazy! They wanted to come with us to the 8k in the morning, so we all made plans to meet up at 6am.
I changed into my suit and walked over to the beach to meet up with Sabina, Gloria, and Alex for another day at the beach. What a tough life right? Again we hung out, soaking up the sun, actually burning is more like it. By lunchtime I was starving. I walked up to the small cafe at the Hale Koa ( i think that's what it's called); it's a military hotel that I read was a great secret for those looking for affordable food and drinks. I think it took me 10 minutes to decide which greasy little meal I wanted, and after much deliberation, I opted for a
My shave ice
Heaven! Lilikoi & lychee flavor with vanilla ice cream chicken sandwich. Remember, I said I was starving? Well, let me tell you...I took one bite and knew that this was probably the worst chicken sandwich I've ever had. It was made of sick meat, not white meat, and there were little fatty yellow parts in it. Are you gagging yet? Here's the worst part. I spent like $5 dollars on this thing and I was so hungry that I tried to ignore it. I'm literally throwing up in my mouth as I write this. I got through half of the sandwich before I just couldn't do it anymore. I thought I'd cry I was so disgusted. Luckily Gloria gave me an apple to wash out the taste in my mouth and I tried to forget the awful experience, but no one was allowed to say the word 'chicken' for the rest of the day. Seriously....it was so bad, I don't think I could ever eat at this place again! Well...except for the soft serve ice cream. I'd probably go back for that, but never ever again for food.
The three of them had to check out of the Hilton and move closer to me to the Waikiki Resort
Sabina, Gloria, & I at Duke's
dinner at Duke's on the patio. mid afternoon. After they settled in, we all met up again to walk over to Waiola Shave Ice. They hadn't had it yet, and I was excited to show them my favorite new desert! This time I got the lilikoi & lychee flavored with vanilla ice cream on the bottom. Oooooh it's so delicious! After a little more beach time, I headed home to get showered and dressed again. This time we were going to Duke's for dinner.
I love Duke's...even though the only time I've been there was in Kauai, and Molly & I had a yucky experience with a cockroach, I still craved another taste of their famous hula pie. For dinner I ordered mahi mahi fish tacos and a side of french fries. Can you see where my diet is headed? Their greasy waffle french fries are so good, and my fish tacos were amazing too! Alex ordered the market fish of the day Opa, which I think might be the dinner to order, but I would certainly recommend the fish tacos. Unfortunately, by the time I finished all this food, I was stuffed. There was no hula pie in my future tonight; I guess I'll
have to go again soon.
After dinner, I caught the bus back home to try to get better sleep tonight than last night. Gotta get up early tomorrow for an 8k race and a day at the Sandbar. Looking forward to a fun time!
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Jen B.
non-member comment
Hilton Hawaiian Village
Right on sister about HHV. The beach is not nice and even though I didn't go in, I am sure that place is overpriced. That is not my favorite end of Waikiki. Heard that the Hale Koa food is cheap. I don't generally order chicken for your exact experience. I am sorry you had to experience that. I actually don't even like to cook or touch chicken. To me, the chicken is equivalent to the cockroach. But, chicken is a little healthier than red meat, so sometimes I have to cook it or eat it. And beach bum it really okay.....enjoy it!